Track Smack: Bristol and the COT, top 35 and Juan

1. It's the long-awaited debut of the Car of Tomorrow -- the COT -- but will the action at Bristol be any different than we've ever seen?

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• David
• Joe
• Mark

David Caraviello: Reporters hate to say this, but no one knows. We're talking about pack racing, where most of the COT tests were done in single-car runs.

Joe Menzer: That's what remains to be seen. I think, as most racing insiders have suggested, that everyone will be on the edge of their seats for the first hour or so -- and then realize it's not gonna be all that different.

Mark Aumann: Nah, it'll be just like every other Bristol race. Lots of beating and banging because there's really only one good groove, which means NASCAR probably won't have to make up a "debris caution" at the end.

Joe Menzer: Yeah, what about that deal?

Mark Aumann: This won't be a fuel mileage finish.

Joe Menzer: Neither was Atlanta, as it turned out.

Mark Aumann: Yep, I hollered "Lap 210" when we predicted when NASCAR would throw the flag. I was off by one lap.

David Caraviello: But can certain parts of this car take that beating and banging? The splitter and wing aren't indestructible, you know.

Joe Menzer: They're not? I heard they were. Of course I'm kidding. Not that I haven't heard some versions of that, but nothing is indestructible when you run it into a wall.

David Caraviello: Just ask Clint Bowyer.

Mark Aumann: The problem is still that 43 cars is about seven too many on a half-mile track like Bristol. There's just no way to avoid running into somebody -- or getting run into.

Joe Menzer: You know what, though? That's a big part of what makes it so much fun.

Mark Aumann: Funny how Jimmie Johnson knew where the debris was this time, but not at California, where it cost him the win.

Joe Menzer: OK, Aumann, you now have to let Atlanta go. I know it's hard -- going back to that 13-inch TV. (Continued)